


Tapestry of Hearts

by wynnebat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Divination, F/M, Family, Female Harry Potter, Mostly Gen, POV Regulus Black, Regulus Black Lives, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22790050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: Thinking out loud, Regulus said, "I won't return as a ghost. I don't want to see my name turn black. Neither would my mother be particularly happy with me, betraying the Dark Lord and all. Everyone always told me I had a bright future. I wish it had been a happy one instead."Regulus let his hand slip down from his name. There would be no name there.There wouldn't be.And yet.
Relationships: Regulus Black/Harry Potter
Comments: 10
Kudos: 717





	Tapestry of Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ellory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellory/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Ellory! I wish you lots of love and joy and happiness in the year to come. Take care! ❤

Grimmauld Place was empty of people, yet so full of magic and history that Regulus could choke on it. His mother had been visiting out of the country for the past week, leaving the house quiet and empty except for Regulus. He cleaned his room before leaving it. He took care to put everything in order. In case he didn't make it back, he destroyed everything incriminating or stored it in Sirius's old room.

Hand trailing against the wood of his bedroom door, he closed it tightly behind himself. There was no deadline here, no reason that said he must do this tonight. And yet it had to be tonight. Any later and he may lose his nerve. He was no Gryffindor. Bravery did not suit him.

Thoughts of Sirius had been frequent ever since his change of heart. Before leaving the house, Regulus took a turn for the sitting room that housed the family tapestry. He could find himself on the map without any thought. He'd spent countless hours memorizing the tapestry as a child. It was Sirius's name that he went to today.

"I may die yet," Regulus admitted aloud, touching one finger to the tapestry. "If I do, it won't be the end. Sirius will continue the Black legacy, whatever that may be."

Sirius's opinion of their family legacy was nothing near Regulus's, no matter the fact that astonishingly, they had managed to be on the same side once more. It was a misstep of ideals, a strange, unholy thing, finding himself closer to his brother than his mother in thought if not in presence. Abruptly, Regulus wished that Sirius had taken him with him when he left for the Potter residence. He wished they still had more than scraps and tatters of a relationship. He wished for so many things, but it did not matter what he wished.

"This is goodbye, I suppose," Regulus murmured. He had made his plans and would not go to the grave without a fight, but he knew that he was no match for the greatest Dark Lord of their era. If he was lucky, he would survive. If not, well then. At least he would not have to watch what became of this family without him.

Regulus drew his finger in a circle around his own name. He imagined it darkening with his death, imagined his mother returning home only to find him gone.

Thinking out loud, he said, "I won't return as a ghost. I don't want to see my name turn black. Neither would my mother be particularly happy with me, betraying the Dark Lord and all. Everyone always told me I had a bright future. I wish it had been a happy one instead."

Regulus let his hand slip down from his name. There would be no name there.

There wouldn't be.

And yet.

Before his eyes, the Black family tapestry came alive. The thread that made up his name glowed with magic and began to lengthen, winding to the right to create a new entry in the family tree. But that was impossible; Regulus would have known if he was married. His magic would have made things very clear. His eyes followed the invisible needle that wound its way through the tapestry.

_H-E-A-T-H-E-R P-O-T-T-E-R_

There were no Potters except for Lily and James. Regulus could feel his heart beating faster than he could describe. The magic didn't end there. Not only had its lines stretched across, but also down, and Regulus couldn't look away as a name appeared below his and Heather's names. When he turned his head, he saw a line stretching from his mother's name to a new name. She would find love and remarry again. Sirius, too, wouldn't be an eternal bachelor.

"This can't be possible," Regulus breathed. "Is it? Is this the future? _My_ future?"

A precious, wonderful world in which he was happy and loved. The father of a child whose name filled him with terror and delight. And husband to a woman, this Heather Potter, who had not yet even been born.

The tapestry glowed with magic for a moment more. Then the threads retreated back into the tapestry, gone but for the way they remained bright in Regulus's memory. This was the future he wanted. This was the future if he lived.

"Kreacher," Regulus said, and heard the immediate pop of his house elf's apparition. "Let's make some changes to our plan. I need to be more careful."

"Young master must always be careful," Kreacher agreed. He'd worried over Regulus's plan more than Regulus himself.

Besides Kreacher, there were people Regulus could go to for help. Severus and Barty were his longtime friends, and his mother had always been his greatest ally, as well as the greatest source of his stress. But this called for the kind of aid that he could trust, the kind that didn't flinch from danger or betray him to the Dark Lord.

"Find Sirius for me." Regulus wouldn't join the Order. He refused. But he could do this. "Tell him-- Tell him I need him."

"Young master has no need of _him_."

Regulus shook his head. "I do, Kreacher." There were times when one needed an older brother. And if this quest put him down a path in which years later James and Lily would not turn him away when he came to court their daughter, then Regulus could not hesitate to ask for Sirius's help. "Bring him to me."

"Kreacher will do as young master asks." And with a pop, his house elf was gone.

When Regulus touched his hand to the tapestry, he could feel it hum with approval.

*

Years later, when the Black family tapestry was as it should be, Heather looked at him with a secretive smile. "I think the tapestry has a surprise for you."

Regulus couldn't say what. "It already showed me the future once."

Heather shook her head. "It didn't show you everything."

With those curious words, Regulus followed her into the sitting room and found his name again, and he laughed with dizzying delight at another name that had appeared on the tapestry with a date of birth nine months in the future. One had no secrets from this particular tapestry. All those years ago, the tapestry hadn't given him the entire picture at all. But just a glimpse had been enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm also on [Tumblr](https://wynnefic.tumblr.com/).


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